It Rounds Out
by Cranberry Octopus
Summary: When Kakashi first woke up, his thought was that it was definitely going to be an off day; and that wasn't even the start of it.  Written for the Poe Challenge in the KakaSaku LJ Comm.
1. The Beating

_Art of the Heart_

**moldycookies**

_A Special Thanks to Kat for helping me get this._

_You can only imagine how._

.

_Sakura closed her eyes tight, and tried to pull her gaze away from the heart on the slab. It started to pulse by itself._

_Thump._

Tsunade's mouth was set into a firm frown, and it certainly showed no mercy when yet another chuunin came in and told her that Sakura hadn't arrived yet. Just what was that girl doing? Planting trees? Well, Konoha had enough of them! She didn't need to plant trees! She needed to be here, filling out her paperwork and getting her sake.

That girl was hopeless.

Finally, after twelve agonizing seconds, Sakura bustled into the room. "Sorry I'm late – it's all Kakashi's fault."

The blonde bristled at the mention of the Copy Nin. A fine ninja that man was, but also a really bad influence, and it seemed like he was already rubbing off on her! Well, granted, he could have rubbed off on her a lot sooner when they were genin – anyways, Kakashi was not someone Sakura should be hanging around with.

"Ah," Tsunade said smartly, "Well, what was so important that he had to keep you long enough for you to be late?"

_Thump-thump._

At the mention of his name, she remembered the beating heart on the slab of metal. It was beating, almost mocking her as she began to autopsy the rest of the body. When she tore her gaze away from the moving heart, the person she was examining had their eyes open. Sakura moved her hands over their eyelids to shut them, but they grabbed her wrist and bit her hand. No one heard her silent screams.

_Thump._

Sakura, who was already at her tiny excuse for a desk, looked up from the mountains of paperwork, slightly bewildered that Tsunade was actually talking to her. "Huh? Oh," she shrugged, "he said he was pursuing me or something."

Sakura tried to push away the vision that she just had. She had been having them for weeks now, and according to Tsunade, they weren't going to stop anytime soon. She just had to wait it out until they figured out what to do with it. Shizune was convinced that it was going to wear off soon.

Sakura wasn't so convinced.

The scrapping of the Hokage chair against the floor could be heard as Sakura frantically began to file budgets and old mission reports. Behind her, Shizune tripped over her feet, knocked over a vase, causing the annual budget project to topple onto the floor and Tonton to run over it with her dirty hooves. "Pursuing you?" Shizune asked incredulously. "He's doing _what_?" Shizune scrambled to pick up the papers, "_He's pursuing you_?" she asked, her voice reaching a higher octave each time she asked or repeated it. And she repeated it a lot.

The pinkette nodded and shrugged. "What?" Sakura asked, totally not getting it. It wasn't that big of a deal.

Oh, it was a huge deal. Especially to Tsunade, the woman who made Sakura blossom into a beautiful and strong woman. Shizune balefully noticed that four pencils were now protruding from half of those mission reports and last year's village budget. Tsunade, who was oddly silent, stood up from her chair and looked Sakura straight in the eye. "That man is _pursuing_ you?" she growled, "Hatake is _pursuing _you?"

"Yes!" Sakura growled out, "Why is everyone tripping over this?"

It was then when Shizune realized that Sakura had _no freaking idea_ what the _hell _she was getting into, or she tripped and fell on her head that morning and had no idea who she was and why Kakashi couldn't pursue her. "Um, Sakura, you do realize that when Hatake Kakashi is pursuing, it means that he's _pursuing_ you. It also means that he's breaking about fifteen protocols – and that's a lot of paperwork I have to fill out, Sakura, because you'll be too busy shacking it off with Konoha's infamous Copy Nin!"

"Excuse me?" Tsunade snapped. "Shacking it off with who?"

"Whom." Sakura corrected before wincing and being promptly glared at. "Er… you know, 'who' if you want it to be – you're the Hokage."

Shizune winced herself, "Sorry, Tsunade-sama." She apologized, then turning to Sakura. "Sakura, this is a big deal. And I don't know why you're not worried about this, but a teacher pursuing their student and willingly admitting that to her is a _big deal_."

The kunoichi promptly turned pink at that. "Wh-what? You think that – that Kakashi-sensei… Kakashi-sensei – _what_?"

Did she raise an idiot? Sakura was smarter than that. The Hokage concluded that someone must have slipped something in her coffee that morning because this was definitely not Sakura. Tsunade began to massage her forehead with her right hand as her left hand began to recycle her desk into mulch. "What do you think pursuing means, Sakura? Oh, god, I made an idiot – Shizune! Get me some sake."

"Wait, you mean he's actually _pursuing_ me?"

_Thump-thump._

Something in the air shifted, and Sakura was no longer in the Hokage tower, filing paperwork. She was in the basement of the hospital, looking at the same body. This time, the heart of the person was in her hands, and she was squeezing it tightly. Then, it began to pulse.

Thumping strongly, even under her vicious grip. Frightened, Sakura dropped the hurt on the floor, it seemed to stutter with its even pulses, but continued as a bloody mess on the floor.

_Thump._

Sakura swallowed the rock hard lump in her throat. Two times within the same hour was something to be worried about.

Shizune would have thrown herself out of the window, "Yes!" Shizune finally yelled; juggling multiple papers, which just flew everywhere when Genma, who just came in to drop off his mission report, tried to help her. The medic-nin just huffed in exasperation and walked away. "He's pursuing you!" She sent him an apologetic smile and promptly blushed when she turned away. "What did you _think_ he was doing?"

Nonetheless, Sakura had to continue on. Sakura shrugged, "I don't know. I thought it was some weird challenge him and Gai-sensei were doing."

Genma put two and two together and got ten. "Wait – Kakashi is dating Sakura?" All three women snapped their heads toward Genma at the mention of the ludicrous thing he was saying. There was no way – absolutely no way – that Hatake Kakashi wanted to date Sakura, his student. With the look they were giving him, Genma concluded that he would definitely not make it out of this alive. "Er… maybe it was a challenge?" he suggested, finally gathering all the papers and giving it to Shizune.

The dark haired woman attempted to calm her breathing, "Yes," she half-hyperventilated (this was too much to take in – there was going to be so much paperwork), taking the papers that were offered to her, "thank you," she stuttered with her words, however, when she realized how close Genma was to her general physique, "Yes – a challenge." She quickly sent him a pointed look to _get the hell away from her_ and went back to her desk; he just followed.

"Are you sure?" Sakura asked skeptically.

Tsunade inwardly noticed that Sakura was still putting up the 'stupid girl' act. "Sakura," the blonde woman began, "Why are you acting so stupid?"

Because the nightmares hadn't stopped. Because she was worried that she was going to slowly go insane. Because she didn't want anyone, especially Kakashi to worry about her. "Because I don't want to get in trouble!" she blurted. Her inner-self smiled evilly; everything was going according to plan. Ever since Kakashi proclaimed that he was going to be courting her, Sakura thought of a plan to get Tsunade to know about the relationship and stop it. It wasn't that she didn't like Kakashi; it was just that he kept messing up every chance at a relationship. First, she would bring up the topic casually like it was nothing. Secondly, she would blame it on a challenge of some sort, which she knew they wouldn't believe. Thirdly, Tsunade would disapprove after uncovering the truth and forbid the relationship. Therefore, Sakura would be finally free to date whoever she wanted.

Ah, that explained a lot. "So you thought acting stupid was going to get you off the hook of whatever Hatake is planning?"

The kunoichi shrugged and smiled bashfully, "In a way, yes." Yes, the plan was working, indeed.

"Well," she grinned maliciously because she knew exactly what Sakura was doing. That'll teach her to try to trick her. "I approve of the relationship."

Sakura eyes widened; she definitely was not expecting that. There goes all the budgets and patient files. "Wh-what? You approve? You can't approve!" Sakura wailed. "Why? Why do you approve? He- he's a pervert, and-and a bad influence on me! And he's my teacher! Isn't that forbidden or something?"

The Hokage grinned at her apprentice. Poor, poor Sakura had no idea that Kakashi had come to her a week before, and requested that she approve of the relationship. Besides, out of all the 'men' Sakura dated, Kakashi was by far the best. "Well, he's an excellent ninja and a good man. He'll be good for you, Sakura."

At the look of Sakura's wilted and horrified expression, Tsunade knew that Sakura would never lie to her again. "B-but! But! He – he's… uh… _but why_?" she cried, already hanging over the edge of her desk.

"Well, truthfully-" Sakura sent a glare at Genma, but he decided to ignore her anyway, "-the guys you date suck, essentially." Shizune sent him a reproachful look when he began to trace circles on her thigh; he, too, decided to ignore her.

"They do – okay, most of them do – but some of them are winners."

Genma snorted, "No, all of them are _losers_. Compared to Hatake, they've already lost fourteen times." Shizune shifted away from Genma, who just shifted closer and traced more circles on her thigh.

Sakura was convinced that the world had abruptly ended, and that any minute now Tonton would grow wings and fly away while Tsunade proclaimed Naruto to be her predecessor. Sakura fought the strong urge to throw Genma into a wall when she saw his name in the patient files. "Oh, Genma, you're four months overdue for a physical."

The dark-haired woman threw him a look. "You told me that you _went_ to get your physical."

It was that moment when Sakura decided to flee the scene and forget that this morning ever happened.

.

_Thump-thump._

Relationships were always hard.

For Kakashi, they were exceptionally hard because half of (see: mostly) the reason why the relationship failed in the first place is because_ he_ broke it off. Whenever he got close to someone, he would totally freak out, flail and hide in a closet for a few days until he decided to break off the relationship. Everyone knew that Kakashi was secretive. He was the very definition of an enigma. Look up it in the dictionary, and _his_ picture was right next to it. And he just didn't like the fact that someone else would know that about him. Thankfully, a few relationships have endured the test of time.

Yamato, for example, was subordinate that Kakashi was forced to associate with, but overtime Kakashi grew to tolerate the ANBU and even began to kinda like him. Now, he was officially a part of his team, and Kakashi even considered him to be a good friend.

Genma was an annoying example. He was his friend, begrudgingly, and Kakashi learned to accept that.

Before Kakashi could muse over anyone else who liked to annoy the complete and utter crap out of him on a daily basis, Sakura (see: teammate, ex-student, love of his life, future wifey) rounded the corner. Ever since he showed up at her door, proclaiming that he would court her, she was avoiding him.

Sure, it sounded a little far-fetched coming from Kakashi and she probably thought it had to do with some challenge Gai made him do, but it wasn't. Now was his chance.

"Yo, Sakura."

As a ninja, Sakura killed all the time. Ninjas are murderers. Whether it was in the hospital or on the battlefield, Sakura killed – murdered even – regular, normal people just like her. And it didn't change that they were people if they attacked her first. If they decided that they were going to risk it all for the sake of survival or for their country, Sakura was fine with that, because she did the same exact thing.

Yet it was different as murder. When you murdered someone, you went in for the kill – not that ninjas didn't do so, also, but they were mostly doing it for a cause – you were doing it for yourself. Murder, to Sakura, is possibly the most selfish thing a person could commit. Sometimes, we she did it herself, it didn't feel like murder. It felt like duty.

Other times, when murder wasn't completely necessary, Sakura found it almost disturbing that she thought of the prospect.

But there were some instances that made Sakura freeze in her tracks.

_Thump._

She murdered her friends; one by one, she killed them all. In her head. The first time it happened, it was Ino who induced it. Ino was berating Sakura on how awful she looked, criticizing her hair style and clothing choice when Sakura saw the pretty little teacup on the table and wondered. What if she broke that little teacup on the side of the table and carved out Ino's pretty blue eyes? Next, she would cut clean into her jugular, making her bleed out for a few minutes.

Then, Sakura would watch as her friend's face, without any eyes to see her own death, contort into a look of horror and anguish as she finally drifted off into the afterlife. Sakura remembered that time vividly, and she couldn't look Ino in the eye for ten minutes without wanting to throw up at her thoughts.

_Thump._

She killed Ino ten times seriously, and about one thousand times not-so-seriously. In her mind.

_Thump-thump._

Sakura killed Naruto four times. In her mind.

_Thump._

Sakura killed Sasuke eight times. In her mind.

_Thump-thump-thump._

She killed Sai nineteen times. In her mind.

_Thump._

She even killed Yamato. Twice. In her mind.

_Thump._

She killed nearly everyone she came in contact with. In her mind. First, she'd analyze them, focusing on their strengths and weaknesses. Second, she'd see whether or not she liked them as a person and if they were trying to be a good human being. Thirdly, she would think of how to do the deed. Each time it was different.

If they were kind-hearted and nice to her, she would spare them the trouble of suffering a long and painful death. They would go quickly, sometimes even in their sleep. Other times, they would be completely aware of it, but Sakura finished the deed quickly so they wouldn't suffer.

_Thump-thump._

But Sakura hadn't killed Kakashi, not even once jokingly. Yet, as she was looking at him right now, she was sure as hell considering it. For real.

"You!" she pointed an accusing finger at him, "You complete and utter jerk! I can't believe you!" Before Kakashi could ponder on what he did, Sakura punched him across the face. Then she marched over to him, hauled him to his feet and began to abuse him further. "Why?" she asked, tears brimming at her eyes, "_Why_?" First, he ruins all her chances with every man she comes in contact with. Next, he decides to stake his claim on her, without her permission, effectively ruining any of her chances for happiness.

_Thump._

Kakashi frowned to himself; he hadn't meant for this to happen. In fact, Sakura crying was probably the last thing he was expecting. Okay, so maybe he was a little full of himself, but Sakura seemed to have feelings for him, and so did he. What was the problem?

"I…"

_Thump._

"You've been giving me nightmares, haven't you?" Sakura muttered.

The Copy Nin's brow furrowed. Why would he give her nightmares? "Sakura, are you alright?"

Her heart was beating erratically now. "You did, didn't you?"

Kakashi reached out to touch her forehead, but she smacked his hand away with a terrified look on her face. "Sakura, why would I give you nightmares?"

_Thump-thump-thump._

"Be-because you – you said you wanted to date me and – and I – oh, god, what is wrong with me?"

Hatake Kakashi had seen many go through the aftermath of a particularly harsh genjutsu, but he had never seen one affect Sakura like this. She was slowly going insane, and the girl he once knew was about to slip through his fingers if he didn't help him. "Do you remember the mission you had three weeks ago?"

"Yes, the one with the genjutsu user who – oh, sorry."

"It's alright," he gave her a happy eye-crease to show that he wasn't mad. "Tsunade-sama said it would take a while for the effects to wear off. Now, what's this about dating me?"

Sakura deadpanned and smacked him on the arm. "Oh, don't act like you don't know."

.

Sakura's eyes cracked open to see the moonlight filter in through her window and curtains. She snuggled closer to the body attached to the arm wrapped around her waist. Behind her, she could hear his steady breathing and even heartbeat.

The pinkette inwardly noticed that her nightmares were gone. Her sigh of relief went unnoticed by her mostly unconscious lover. Now Sakura could finally sleep in peace without those vivid thoughts and creepy dreams that quickly turned into nightmares.

_Thump._

Her eyes snapped open.

_Thump-thump._

It was getting louder. The beating sound of someone's heart. Sakura tilted her head towards her bedside table. The silent scream caught in her throat when she saw the same heart from her dreams, beating on her table. _It was just a dream. It was just a really vivid dream._

Sakura squeezed her eyes shut and pinched herself.

_Thump._

She opened her eyes. The heart was still there. Beating.

"Sakura? Are you awake? Did you have another nightmare?"

The pinkette shuddered at the heart on her bedside table continued to pulse. "No. Everything's fine. Go back to sleep."

_Thump-thump._


	2. The Dreaming

Author's note: So… I wasn't exactly planning on making it to the next round of the Poe contest. So, uh… thanks.  
Oh, and it may seem like it, but this is **not** a continuation of "_Uncharted_".  
Here's my week two submission.  
I must admit,_ Inception_ kinda helped me.

_An Off Day_

**Moldycookies**

_Kakashi was having an off day and that wasn't even the start of it._

.o.

Hatake Kakashi woke up to a day that felt different. Now, that wasn't really much considering the fact that most days he woke up to _were_ different, but this day was peculiar in a different way. Firstly, the sun was shining brightly, obnoxiously brightly, _not kinda_ brightly – obnoxiously brightly. It was clearly obnoxiously obnoxious.

The next thing he noticed, which probably should have been the first thing, was the lack of black fabric covering his face. Oddly enough, his eye was still covered by something. Whether it was a random piece of fabric some medic-nin tied onto his head or his usual forehead protector, he was not sure, nor did he care to find out. There were more important things to find out right now. Like, for instance, why he was in the hospital in the first place. And why was his mask gone? More specifically, where was his mask? Sure, he normally kept it down while he slept, but he distinctly remembers keeping his mask on last night due to Naruto's recent creativity in getting Kakashi's mask off.

The last thing he noticed, which in truth should have been the first – definitely should have been the first – thing to notice, was that he was in a hospital. Konoha's hospital, to be specific. The Copy Nin concluded that he must have been on heavy painkillers in order for him to not notice everything immediately to make any sense. He was a ninja for goodness sake, not some civilian who spied on his neighbors because he was bored!

Now that his inward bemoaning of how unobservant he was finished, he decided that it was now time to leave the hospital. Sakura would kill him, but she never got around to finishing the deed anyway, so Kakashi considered himself safe. For now, at least. With one final look around the room to make sure it was empty, he used the proper hand seals necessary to 'poof' himself out of the room and into his apartment.

Not even ten seconds after he left, Sakura bustled in. The kunoichi put a hand to her mouth and rushed out of the room to tell the Hokage of this recent development. The pinkette pushed past nurses and patients being escorted to their respective rooms, desperate to reach the Hokage before the man got away.

Despite the protests of the three assistants the Hokage had (and the five million protocols Sakura destroyed), Sakura pushed them away and rushed into his office. "Minato-sama!" Sakura cried, "He's gone!"

The blond looked up from his paperwork and frowned. "Summon Tenzou for me, Sakura-chan, and thank you for telling me."

The girl smiled uneasily, knowing that this was her fault. "Yes, Hokage-sama." Then she bowed demurely and exited the room.

.o.

Kakashi dodged another plate that was poorly aimed at what he supposed was probably his head. The woman then proceeded to yell profanities that Kakashi had never heard before and frantically call for her husband to come rescue her from the 'ninja would wants to take advantage of her'. Che. Like he would _want_ someone with a voice as shrilly as her.

He'd much rather prefer someone like Sakura. No, that was a lie – he just wants Sakura.

Anyway, he was sure that this was his apartment. No, he was absolutely _positive_ that this was his apartment – the dent in the living room wall above where his couch _should be_ (a gaudy looking sculpture was now occupying that space) was in the same place as when he bought it. So this must be his apartment. Why were other people living in it? And how did they get rid of his crap so easily?

No one would want his Icha Icha collection –

_His Icha Icha collection_. Kakashi reeled back in horror as he balefully observed that his Icha Icha collection was, indeed, gone. What the hell was going on? The woman before him insisted that they ('they' meaning her husband wielding the very pointy, sharp thing and herself) lived here, not him. Kakashi understood that, but he would have probably understood **without** her yelling.

Either this was a very clever and elaborate plan by Naruto to get him to remove his mask, or there was something terribly, horribly wrong with Kakashi's psyche. Or it could be a mixture of both. Maybe even neither of the aforementioned options; maybe someone was trying to get him and this was all a part of their elaborate plan to get him to surrender his eye or be their slave or something as equally ridiculous.

"Then where do I live?" Kakashi asked the woman, who suddenly stopped throwing things at him; which he thought was a big mistake, because Kakashi could have been an enemy nin, and he could have done away with her before her deranged husband had a chance to react. He was deranged because he was wielding the broomstick all wrong – there was no way that he was going to get a fatal hit unless he sharpened the edge or had strength like Sakura.

Sakura. Oh, Sakura. Why did she have to go on a mission before all of this happened? All in such a short amount of time, too.

The brunette woman approached him warily, "What is your name, sir?"

_Names were a bad idea_, a part of his inner mind tried to warn him, but Kakashi knew that they were civilian. If worse came to worst, he could just kill them and have his apartment back. Along with new furniture, too. "Hatake Kakashi."

The woman's eyes widened in recognition, and Kakashi suddenly didn't feel so confused anymore. In fact, he felt worried that he was confused in the first place; also, the fact that _she knew who he was_, and _that was bad_. "Ah, are you the son of the White Fang?"

No, he was the son of the _Kinda_ White Fang.

Kakashi looked at the woman like she was stupid. Was there another Hatake that he was unaware of? Of course not, his father never remarried after his mother died. Why was he even thinking about this? His father is dead. "Yes," Kakashi finally answered, "However, I don't see that as anything of importance since my father is dead."

The woman feigned confusion and actually looked sincere about it. "Oh dear, I wasn't aware that Sakumo-san was no longer living, I just saw him in the market yesterday – there must have been a mission-"

"Wait, yesterday?" The market? _The market_? Something was definitely off. Whether it was some elaborate genjutsu that even his Sharingan could not detect or it was a brand new jutsu bent on confusing Kakashi, he didn't know, but something was definitely off about Konoha. The jounin was already suspicious of everything except the atmosphere, and even then there could be something that caused him to act this way.

"Yes, but that's such a shame. He retired a few years ago-"

Kakashi was out of there in the blink of an eye. He knew it was a lie, but he had to see it for himself. The woman must have had a seizure or something, and imagined the entire thing because there was no way that his father was –

.o.

- _Alive_. Kakashi looked at the figure in disbelief. He could barely believe his eyes. His father was – his father was – he was alive. And breathing. Well, granted, that goes along with being alive – but ever since that resurrection technique Kabuto used, Kakashi never really _believed_ anyone was actually alive.

"Dad," he greeted cordially, resisting the urge to take out a kunai and see if he was _really_ alive in the only way he knew how.

"Kakashi," Sakumo smiled at his son, "You've grown."

The Copy Nin could not believe his eyes. It was his father! It was Hatake Sakumo and he was smiling at him. Right before his very eyes, sure he was a little older, but it was still his father. Were those laugh lines? He didn't know that his father laughed. Okay, he _did_, but it didn't happen frequently from what he remembers. Then again, he was a genin when he was a baby, so there were a lot of things he didn't remember. Nor would he want to remember some of those things. Or it was his father's soul in another person's body, thus making him a zombie – not the stupid zombies who ate people – but a zombie, like, no longer not dead – zombie. "I have," Kakashi stated coolly, unsure of how he should react to this. Maybe it was a henge? No, his Sharingan would have seen that.

Either way, Kakashi considered himself safe, for the time being since his father _wasn't_ currently trying to gouge his eye out with a kunai. Or a giant sword, which fed on his blood.

"So what are you doing here, son?" The White Fang inquired, trying to strike up a conversation which didn't result in awkward silences.

And there was something about his question that put Kakashi on his guard. He already knew that something was fishy, like, for instance, the fact that he remembers going to sleep in his house and _not_ the hospital. Yet Kakashi didn't think there was anything wrong with Konoha until he laid eyes on his father. Something was definitely off.

"You know, just came back from visiting at the hospital."

Sakumo blinked, "I can see that." Said he, pointedly looking at Kakashi's hospital scrubs (Sakura always gave it to him), because he didn't like the gowns. It reminded him of prison; Kakashi didn't like prison – every memory of jail was too fresh in his mind whenever he thought of it. Stupid Sharingan. "What I meant was: why are you _here_?"

Like he answered everything else he didn't know anything about, Kakashi came up with some bullshit excuse and fed it to his dead father. There was nothing wrong with that – no, there was definitely nothing wrong. "Well, many don't know _why_ they're here-"

Sakumo would have dug his palm into his eye socket had this not been Kakashi speaking to him. Instead, he decided that the abrupt approach was the best, especially when it came to his son. "This is the afterlife, Kakashi."

And suddenly, everything made a lot more sense. But there was another problem now. He died? _In his sleep_? That was so stupid and lame, especially if he was a ninja! "I'm… dead?"

Sakumo inclined his head slightly, "Perhaps, where did you wake up?"

The Copy Nin blinked. This was too weird. His father wasn't even asking how he died! Or why he died! Or what the hell was going on? And where was his mother? "In the hospital," he answered smoothly, while his fingers itched to reach for a kunai and stab it through the imposter.

The White Fang frowned. "You're in a coma." He stated, like it was a fact.

"How do you know?" Propriety and manners to hell – he was dead! Hell, Kakashi didn't even consider that remotely rude, but someone probably thought it was. He couldn't be in a coma if he was visiting his father in the afterlife. Kakashi was **dead**. That was that. Everything made sense now – he somehow died in his sleep (maybe he was poisoned, because at least that was ninja-like, or someone stabbed him with a fork or something) – and now he was frolicking around in the afterlife-limbo-heaven-whatever until the beam of light or God decided that he was worthy of some peace.

So it was a waiting game. Much like now, because Sakumo was taking a lifetime and a half to answer a relatively simple question.

Sakumo rubbed a hand down his face and frowned slightly before answering. "I'm your father, Kakashi; the only time you ever knew me was when you thought I knew everything – when you thought I would never go down."

What was that supposed to mean? The man appeared just as he remembered him. Perhaps that was the catch to his limbo or heaven? He only saw people as he remembered them. If that was true, that meant that Sakumo wasn't real. Or, at the least, he wasn't the real Sakumo. The Copy Nin pretended that he didn't hear disappointment in Sakumo's voice. If this was really the afterlife, then where was Sakura? Where was she? He _**wanted**_ to see her. If this was heaven then he should have the ability to see the woman he loved. Where –

"Hatake-san," a familiar voice cut through his thoughts like a knife. "Come with us," Kakashi pivoted on his heel to see that it was Yamato speaking to him, and there was Sakura. She looked as beautiful as he remembered her. God, he missed her. He really wished she didn't go on a mission before he could tell her that she was everything to him.

"Come," Sakura ordered tranquilly, "we have a few things to sort out."

.o.

"Sakura," Kakashi murmured, catching the attention of the girl. As soon as his father was out of sight, Kakashi was thrown to the ground by Tenzou's technique and securely bound in three seconds. The Copy Nin inwardly mourned the loss of his skills because if his kouhai could best him, then what was his purpose on earth anymore? Oh and this obviously wasn't Tenzou because he would never throw Kakashi to the ground and take him as his prisoner.

"_Why_?" he asked no one, feeling slightly stupid and miffed all the same.

Apparently, Sakura couldn't find it in herself to grace him with an answer. Whether it was from guilt or pity, Kakashi will never know, because she stalked out of the room as soon as he was chained to the wall.

But they did. And now, he was stuck in some cell with very poor plumbing installation. He didn't even have Icha Icha there to entertain him; this was officially the worst day ever. Sakura, the love of his life, betrayed him by allowing him to be bound and thrown into this disgusting, flea-infested, and _damp_ cell.

Suddenly the door swung open. "How do you know my name?" It was Sakura, and she was apparently angry with the fact that Kakashi remembered her name. His memory wasn't that bad, geez, give a man a break once in a while.

"Well, when you were twelve years old-"

The pinkette looked absolutely terrified with that fact, "You knew me when I was _twelve_?" she yelped, arms flailing around like a lunatic. She probably thought that he was a stalker or something, but Kakashi was her sensei, and if Sakura didn't know that then this wasn't Sakura. Something was definitely off. _Definitely_ off. Because Sakura did not act like an idiot all the time.

"Yes," Kakashi answered slowly, "and I'll stop being nice now since you're not the Sakura I want. Care to tell me why I'm here?"

"You're dreaming, obviously."

Kakashi nodded, "Ah - that makes sense." It really didn't because he totally should have woken up when he found out Icha Icha was gone. "But if I was dreaming, why would I allow myself – the dreamer – to be captured and hung on a wall. That doesn't seem pleasant in the least."

"I don't know why you're here, and I also don't know why we captured you." She admitted.

Kakashi blinked. He was finding all of this very annoying. First he was dead, then he was in a coma, now he was sleeping, then he was dead again and now it's an elaborate plan. Really. Enough already. Whatever happened to him is making him anxious, and he really just wanted to trick this girl into letting him go so he could leave and find Sakura.

"You don't believe me." She frowned.

If he could shrug, he would have. Instead, Kakashi just stared at her, "That's true. But you should be more careful, Sakura, any enemy would take advantage of your easily trusting heart. It's a great hindrance as a shinobi and as a person. You shouldn't trust too easily; it might hurt you in the end." He paused, examining her stature. Why not? "Let me go."

She tilted her nearly empty head to the side. If this was how Kakashi's subconscious saw Sakura, they were going to have some very odd relationship problems. "Why do you want to leave?"

Because being in jail sucked? Really, this girl was so stupid. He was so glad that Tsunade took Sakura under her wing and gave her the gift of common sense. "Because," he sighed, "I need to see a friend." Kakashi sighed.

Sakura looked left, then right. "Okay." She finally agreed. "I'll help you, but only because you seem to really care about this Sakura."

Kakashi's eyes widened. "How did you-"

"You knew my name before I told you, Hatake-san. Obviously, I remind you of her, and she has the same name as me." This Sakura was definitely not his Sakura, because his Sakura would not do something as stupid as letting a criminal go. Then, Sakura pulled out a bulky, black, L-shaped metal hand weapon and pointed it at one of the guards.

"What is that?" he asked as she ripped off his chains like a piece of paper.

She moved a piece of it back, which caused it to snap forward and made a clicking noise, and crouched down. "Cover your ears." She ordered, and then it sounded like a bomb went off. "And it's a gun," she replied in a 'duh' tone. Like _**he**_ was the stupid one. _Che_. No.

.o.

They were running for what seemed like hours, but it was probably only a few minutes. The enemy was gaining on them – they had been following them ever since she shot that guard with her '_gun_', whatever that was. It looked like it came in handy, but it seemed impractical to carry and wield. What if she ran out of bullets? Would she then throw the _'gun'_ at the enemy? Probably not a smart idea.

"Wait," Kakashi called out, "Sakura, wait."

The pink-haired inclined her head towards him, "Yes, Hatake-san?"

Said Hatake swallowed the lump forming in his throat that he felt really had no reason to form in the first place. "Come with me." It wasn't a question – it was an order. This Sakura didn't deserve to live in such a world like this, nor did his Sakura. "Come with me to my world." He finally said.

The medic-nin smiled sadly, "I'm sorry, Kakashi-san, but I can't come with you."

"Why?"

"Because I don't belong there, but you do. Now go, before they catch up."

Kakashi, for knowing Sakura for the past hour or so, had grown an attachment to her – mostly because she reminded him of _his_ Sakura – and he didn't want her to go. Also, it didn't feel right leaving her behind with all this mess to clean up. She was probably going to die. "No."

"Those who disobey orders are scum," she recited wisely, perfectly, even though he never told this Sakura about his rules and regulations before.

But she did forget the last and most important part of that quote – the most important part of his life's mantra, instated by Obito years and years ago when Kakashi received his eye. "But those who leave their teammates behind are worse than trash."

Sakura turned around and smiled, baring her back to the enemy, and effectively breaking rule number one. "I'm not your teammate," she concluded, reloading her gun and cocking it out of safety so it would fire. "Now go, before I get the urge to shoot you."

She was right; the enemy was so close, and the only way either of them was going to make it was if one of them stayed behind. Even so, that didn't make Kakashi want to leave this Sakura behind. Yes, she wasn't his Sakura, but she was still, in a way, Sakura. So, without anymore thoughts to tell him otherwise, he stalked right up to her, cradled the back of her head with his hand and kissed her firmly.

This Sakura hardly had any time to prepare, and she never got the chance because just as quickly as it came, it left just as swiftly. "See you on the other side." He winked, which was blinking, before allowing his eye to crease upwards.

"There's something else," she called back, "The Sakura in your world won't be like me. You might not even make it back to _your_ world. Good luck, Hatake-san."

Then, his world went white.

.o.

The first thing he heard when he woke up was the sound of the monitor keeping tracking of his own pulse by using little beeps, rhythmically keeping time with each mountain peak and dipping valley. Beams of sunshine sprayed into his vision and attempted to burn his retinas. His groan was audible to everyone occupying the room, which wasn't much, considering the fact that his room was tiny and cramped.

"Oh, good." An angelic voice that he never knew he would miss so much up until right now rang out, "You're up."

"Yes… I-" Kakashi's mouth went dry. He was holding something – a gun.

Slowly but surely, Kakashi rotated his neck to face Sakura. Somehow, he felt like the needle in her hand was not something to dull the pain.

"What's the matter?" she teased, successfully injuring his arm, "Cat got your tongue? Or is it just me?"

Kakashi cocked the gun in his head. He would never forgive himself for this if this was the real Sakura. Her face cracked as she smiled.

Definitely _not_ Sakura.


End file.
